


The Daring

by ThatScreamingBread



Category: Angry Birds - All Media Types
Genre: Anger Management, Angry Birds, Anthropomorphic, As in the movie canon, Atoning, Chuck is bisexual!, Chuck/Original Character - Freeform, Crushes, Eventual Romance, F/M, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Guilt, Pining, Secret Crush, Setups, Slight Chuck/Red, That's something I've headcannoned and i want to put that in this fic, Wingwoman, mild ptsd symptoms, movie universe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-03
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:41:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27851862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatScreamingBread/pseuds/ThatScreamingBread
Summary: Devon the Daring spent her days as a circus strongwoman, perfectly happy to perform for the cheering crowds.  When an accident followed by a rage episode costs Devon her job, she is sentenced to anger management class to atone for the incident.  When she makes new friends and enemies alike, she learns there is much more at stake than just her career...
Relationships: Chuck/Original Character(s)
Kudos: 5





	1. The Infinity Acceptance Group

**Author's Note:**

> So I noticed there's a lack of Chuck/Original Character stories out there. Wanted to fix that. This will definitely earn its mature rating later on. Anyways, enjoy.

Devon adjusted the bag slung over her shoulder as she made her way to the little wooden hut laden with vibrant cherry blossoms. Her normally bright eyes were tired from many a sleepless night, but she was determined to have a good first day with the Infinity Acceptance Group. After all, this was her gateway to a better, happier life. And it was a court order, so…

Pushing aside the dangling beads in the doorway, the weary lorikeet trudged through the hall where a white chicken with bright blue eyes and several pink and black feathers waited. “Hey, are you Matilda?” Devon asked.

Matilda smiled, her grin stretching unnaturally across her face. “That’s me! Would I be correct in assuming you’re Devon?”

Devon nodded, exceedingly thankful Matilda hadn’t heard of her. The incident at the circus had been all over the news for about a week. Then again, by the looks of things in the hall, it didn’t appear that Matilda had any televisions or computers. Devon didn’t know if she made it on the newspaper since she didn’t typically read them, but she was sure she had.

“Well, you’re the first one here, so let’s get you situated. Let me just say I am so, so, soooooo excited to be taking this journey with you,” Matilda gushed, taking Devon by the arm and leading her into the classroom. “You can leave your bag up at the front of the room and feel free to pick any seat you feel like.”

Devon set her bag on the ground and sat on the nearest pile of cushions. “You don’t mind if I rest my eyes until it’s time for class to start, do you? I’m feeling kind of tired because I haven’t been sleeping well lately,” Devon asked. More like she hadn’t been sleeping at all.

“Oh, that’s fine, sweetie. You’re super early, anyway. Go ahead and get some rest,” Matilda told her, gathering some files at her desk. Devon sighed and shot her teacher a grateful smile before crossing her arms and legs and closing her eyes.

Sometime later, Devon awoke to the sound of a large, black bird taking the seat next to her. “Oh!” Devon exclaimed, nearly falling over. “We haven’t started yet have we?” her eyes, still glassy from her nap, darted wildly around the room. In the other seat next to the black bird was a much smaller yellow bird with several bushy, untamed black feathers at the top of his head. Devon hadn’t heard him come in at all. The yellow bird shook his head, almost looking impatient.

A minute later, an enormous red bird with a deep scowl and a surly demeanor stepped into the room, sitting across from Devon. Before she began her training, Devon might have actually been intimidated by the big guy. However, he looked almost as tired as she was. She felt bad for him.

“Are we ready to start?” the yellow bird rapidly drummed his fingers on his seat.

Matilda frowned, looking over at the clock. “It’s time to start, but we’re still waiting on one of our new members. He should be here any minute now,” she told the class, but it seemed to Devon that she was really just trying to convince herself. “Excuse me for a moment,” Matilda stepped out into the hallway.

A moment later, she returned with a bright red bird with enormous, bushy eyebrows in tow. “Hey guys!” Matilda clapped to get everyone’s attention. “Say hello to Red, everyone! Helloooooo!”

The bird, Red, looked like he would rather be literally anywhere else. The rest of the class stared awkwardly in silence for a moment before the black bird gave a friendly wave. “Hi, Red!” he greeted, chuckling.

Red smiled and waved back. “Hello, birds I won’t get to know well.” and just like that, his smile disappeared and his scowl returned.

Devon heard a soft yet very sharp inhale come from the yellow bird. “Hey, apparently someone didn’t get the memo that we like to start on time because you’re about two minutes late. Don’t let it happen again,” the very clearly pissed bird quickly scolded. “Hi, my name is Chuck. I’m sorry we got off on the wrong foot. I like you a lot. I can tell,” Chuck introduced with a wink.

Matilda chuckled, turning her focus back to Red. “Now, Red, would you like to share your story with us?”

Red shifted uncomfortably, but masked his discomfort with a blasé shrug. “No, not really.”

Matilda briefly glared at him before her calm demeanor returned. “Well, the court mentioned something about a rage episode at a child’s birthday party.”

“How long is this class, anyway?” Red changed the subject.

Matilda smiled once again. “As long as you make it.”

“Really? Oh, okay,” Red turned to the rest of the class. “Uh, lady, gentlemen, very nice to see you, and to almost meet you. Probably the nicest part of it is not getting to meet you, you know, in some weird way,” several members of the class groaned, Matilda grimacing. “All right, so I’m gonna go ahead and scoot on back out past those creepy statues and, uh—”

Matilda grabbed Red and sat him in the nearest seat. “Back you go.”

“Sure. No, I can take a seat.”

Matilda made her way to the center of the room. “So, in another sense, you are here until I notify the court that your anger issues have been resolved,” Matilda giggled. Red did not look pleased.

Matilda walked over to Devon. “This is our other new member, Devon! Say hello, everyone!”

Devon gave a small wave as the rest of the class greeted her, offering a much warmer welcome than they did for Red. Red simply squinted at her. “Wait a minute, Devon?” Red scooted back a little. “As in, Devon the Dangerous?”

Devon gritted her teeth and clenched her talons. Everyone on Bird Island had taken to calling her Devon the Dangerous following the accident. “Actually, just Devon’s fine. I’m…no longer employed by the circus.”

“Why don’t you tell us your story, Devon?” Matilda requested, clasping her wings together.

“Uh, why not, I guess,” Devon cleared her throat. “So you may have heard of me as Devon the Daring. Circus strongwoman. I bungled my last act and shattered a flaming barbell by dropping it,” she swallowed, trying to keep herself composed. “The crowd laughed and made a mockery of me. I…may have lost control. The whole tent may have collapsed…and there may have been a fire because of that.”

Matilda gave Devon a pat on the shoulder. “Thank you for sharing with us, Devon. Chuck!” Matilda whirled on the yellow bird. “Share your story with us.”

“Me, I am the last guy who should be here. Simple speeding ticket. Judge tells me I was going to fast, so I say, ‘Your Honor, to be honest, I was. You caught me.’ I’m not angry, I’m honest. So, shouldn’t I be in honesty management class? ‘Cause we gotta manage my honesty,” Chuck coolly sat back.

Matilda gave him a look. “Mmhmm…my one problem, that’s a different story than you told last time.” Chuck chuckled nervously. Devon groaned and rolled her eyes.

Turned out, Chuck was sent to anger management for speeding, vandalism, theft, and just generally being a nuisance. The enormous red bird, Terence, was sent to the class for a reason Matilda nervously chose not to disclose to protect Terence’s privacy. Devon suspected he had hurt more birds than she did. Lastly, the black bird, Bomb, was in anger management due to his tendency to blow up. The rest of the class assumed he meant that figuratively, but to their surprise, Bomb was…well, a bomb.

Chuck gave a shrill, excited gasp at Bomb’s revelation. “Do it!” he urged, pumping his fists excitedly.

Despite Bomb’s initial decline to explode, both Chuck and Red continuously urged and pressured him to blow up. Devon could tell poor Bomb was getting more and more uncomfortable. “What’s wrong with you two incessant, selfish little pricks?” Chuck and Red turned to Devon, briefly silent. “Can’t you see he doesn’t want to blow up? Especially not for your personal entertainment, so just leave him alone.”

Bomb said nothing, but shared a very appreciative look with Devon. Matilda brought in a pair of birds to play music for the class. “Today, we’re going to be working on managing our anger through movement,” she wiggled her arms before demonstrating the dancer pose.

As Chuck rapidly showed off a plethora of yoga poses, Devon cracked several joints in her body to limber up before settling into the dancer pose next to Terence. “Excellent form, you two!” Matilda praised. Devon smiled. After all her years in the circus, she could do these poses blindfolded while carrying over three times her weight. As a matter of fact, she had.

Devon turned her attention to Bomb’s strained grunting as he struggled to get into and keep his yoga pose. She was about to call for Matilda, but Red had already beat her to it. “Uh, excuse me, boring hippie lady, looks like the explodey guy’s gonna puke.”

“Uh-huh,” Matilda grabbed Red, taking his comment as a sarcastic remark. “And have you done this before?”

“Uh, yes, I have, but usually not for free,” Red gasped as Matilda stretched him in an unnatural way. 

“Didn’t think so,” Matilda quipped, sashaying over to Bomb. “And how are we doing over here, Bomb?”

“Doing wonderful,” Bomb groaned. “Stretching out the core.”

“Just remember to breathe up through your feathers and from your talons. Namaste,” Matilda’s smile turned to a concerned frown as Bomb’s eyes bulged out of his head. “Bomb?”

Moments later, Devon found herself coughing and shakily clambering to her feet as her ears rang, her colorful feathers covered in a layer of soot and ash. As her eyes readjusted from the explosion, she heard someone cough nearby. “Nice!” Chuck praised.

Matilda released the class early to clean up after the explosion. The class, excluding Terence, walked through the village together on their way out. Bomb lamented aloud about his explosion as Devon fruitlessly tried to wash the ash off her feathers.

“Hey, so, where we going?” Chuck asked his companions.

Devon was about to make a suggestion when Red cut in. “I’m sorry. ‘We’?”

“Yes, we!” Chuck excitedly pointed to a nearby museum before dashing over to it. “There’s a new happiness exhibit at the Museum of Happiness that I’m dying to see!” he called from the distance.

“Uh…you know what, I…I mean, I got a…I got a thing,” Red lied.

“A thing?” Chuck gasped, stepping away from the red bird. “Like a disease? It is bird flu? Chicken pox? Cardinal sin?” he whispered.

“No, by ‘thing’, I mean like, um, desire not to hang out,” Red explained. “With you.”

Devon grimaced, shooting a glance at Chuck, who was trying his best not to look disappointed. That had to sting. “Oh, yeah, well…you know, may be for the best, you know, I got something too!” Chuck replied, trying and failing to hide his hurt. “Ha! How did I forget? Even if you’d said yes, I probably couldn’t have gone.”

Though Devon found herself annoyed with Chuck for pressuring Bomb earlier, she couldn’t help but feel hurt on his behalf. He’d so excitedly invited them to see something he thought they all would enjoy, and Red had just shot him down like it was nothing.

Before Devon could speak, Bomb announced he was busy as well. “I have a, uh, business offer, uh, deal that is, uh—”

“No, Bomb, you’re not good at this, buddy,” Red interrupted. “It’s…it’s charming up to a point, and now it’s just sad,” he pointed out.

Bomb ignored him. “It’s a guy I know,” he began again, prompting Red to groan in annoyance. “And he’s opening up a brand-new luxury…class reunion.”

Red mumbled to himself before awkwardly walking away from his three classmates. “Well, I don’t have anything else to do. I’ll go to the exhibit with you,” Devon offered.

“Uh-huh, sure.”

“No, really! It’ll be fun. We don’t need that grouch, we can go enjoy ourselves without him. What do you say, Chuck? Bomb?” Devon stuck out her wing.

Chuck slowly broke out into a smile. “Well, okay. I’m game if you guys are!” Chuck shook quickly shook Devon’s outstretched wing.

“Yeah! Let’s go!” Bomb cheered, bounding over towards the museum.

After entering the museum, Chuck led Bomb and Devon to the new exhibit. An employee greeted them and told them about the exhibit; a flight simulator. “We may be flightless birds, but nothing can stop us from artificial flight!” the employee explained.

Chuck squealed excitedly. “Me first! Me first!”

The employee chuckled. “As long as you’re all careful not to crash into each other, you can all go in at the same time.” Chuck gave another shrill squeal.

True to his word, Chuck was the first to hop into the flight simulator. His face lit up like a hatchling in a candy shop and he shrieked happily, laughing as he zoomed around in the air. “Come join me! This is so much fuuuuuuuun!”

Devon jumped in after Chuck, her stomach dropping as she lifted into the air. “Woah!” Devon grinned, stretching her wings. “Bomb, get in here! This is so exhilarating!”

Bomb nervously set foot in the flight simulator, the air lifting him off his feet and bringing him to Chuck and Devon’s level. “Guys! Link up!” Devon grabbed Chuck’s wing, then Bomb’s, and the three formed a circle when Chuck and Bomb joined wings. The three laughed giddily as they all hovered in the air and spun around together. Devon hadn’t felt so lighthearted and carefree in such a long time.

After they were finished with the new exhibit, the trio headed to the museum cafeteria for dinner. As Devon waited for her order off to the side, she noticed several patrons of the museum stealing glances in her direction. She took a deep breath in, hoping no one who recognized her would give her any trouble.

As soon as her earthworm panini was handed to her, she joined Chuck and Bomb at the table they had chosen, the two already scarfing down their meals. “Ooh, earthworm panini,” Bomb noticed, nodding approvingly. “Good choice, Dev. Very good choice.”

Devon smiled at the nickname her new friend had given her and eagerly tucked into her meal. She had a light breakfast and skipped lunch to get to class early, so she had worked up an appetite to say the least. After looking up for a brief moment, she noticed Chuck shifting around in his seat. From the look in his eyes, Devon could tell her was uncomfortable.

“There are birds watching us,” Chuck whispered, subtly glancing in their direction.

Bomb and Devon turned their attention to the birds watching them eat. Or, rather, the birds watching Devon eat. “Hello,” Bomb waved with a smile.

“Ignore them,” Devon told them through gritted teeth. Chuck and Bomb nodded and resumed eating the rest of their meals. The shamed lorikeet kept her head down and finished off her sandwich as several birds whispered among themselves.

“Hey!”

Devon looked up to see a large, grey bird breaking off from the group of birds nearby, approaching the table. Devon swallowed the last bite of her meal. “Hello,” she casually greeted, hoping the man wasn’t there to make trouble.

“Aren’t you the strongwoman who caused the circus fire? Devon the Dangerous?” several birds snickered behind him, but noticeably kept their distance from her. The cowards.

Devon took a breath and gave him an icy smile, Chuck and Bomb nervously exchanging glances. “It’s just Devon, now, thanks,” she replied, turning back to her friends.

“I’ll say. What a clown’s doing in a museum is beyond me,” the bird smirked, his friends giggling amongst themselves.

Chuck and Bomb slunk back against their seats as Devon abruptly stood up, her hostile gaze and forced smile still trained on the larger bird. “Kindly use my name when you speak of me or I’ll make you see things in 4D.”

The grey bird threw his hands up with a taunting grin. “Ooh, gosh, I’m so sorry. I sure didn’t mean to make the little clown upset—”

“Upset this!” Devon lurched forward and in the blink of an eye, grabbed the bird’s legs out from under him and flipped him over her head and sprawling painfully onto the ground, a dazed expression on his shocked face.

“Oh!” Chuck exclaimed, Bomb wincing at the state of the bird on the ground. Devon took off running out of the museum without sparing her friends or the hecklers so much as a glance. “Come on, Bomb!” Chuck scarfed down the last of his meal, dragging Bomb out the door with him.


	2. New friends?

The next morning, Devon made her exhausted trek to Matilda’s hut. Like most nights, she didn’t get a wink of sleep. How could she, after the museum incident? Not to mention her lack of a bed, or even a home…

The sleepless lorikeet stopped in her tracks once a familiar yellow canary came into view, on his knees cradling what looked like a…sign? Statue? Doll? Devon wasn’t sure, but as she approached Chuck, she realized he was crying.

“Chuck?” Devon softly called out, taking a cautious step towards him. “Are you alright?”

The smaller bird sniffled, sucking in a gulp of air and hastily scrubbing at his reddened eyes. “Uh-huh,” he murmured. “B-But Billy sure isn’t.”

“Billy?”

Chuck nodded, holding the wreckage of Billy closer. “He was a sign,” Chuck ran a wing over Billy’s mangled face, tears spilling out onto his cheeks. “I made him myself. I worked so hard to create this beloved piece of art,” he reached down and picked up a single crimson feather. “And for whatever reason, Red destroyed him.”

Devon’s features twisted into a snarl. “Red,” she spat, clenching her fist. “I knew that punk was trouble!” her face softened, anger briefly forgotten, as she remembered Chuck was still mourning the loss of his creation. She set her bag down and lowered herself to the ground with Chuck, putting a wing on his sagging shoulder to give him a gentle squeeze. “There’s still a lot of time before class begins, maybe you could make your poem today about Billy.”

Chuck sniffled again and nodded, looking up at Devon. “I think I’d like that,” his voice cracked, wiping the tears off his face. Devon gave his shoulder another reassuring squeeze before slinging her bag over her shoulder and getting to her feet, heading to the entrance. “Devon!”

The lorikeet turned around. “Yeah?”

Chuck briefly set Billy down and stood up, taking a couple steps toward Devon. “What about you?”  
Devon craned her head. “What about me?”

“What happened at the museum yesterday…” Chuck trailed off, scanning Devon’s face for any indication he should buzz off. “Are _you_ alright?”

Devon’s mouth went dry, but she gave him a tiny smile anyway. “I’ll be fine, Chuck,” she gave him a single nod. “Why don’t we get to class and give you some time to work on your Billy poem?”

About two hours later, the class had begun reading their poems. Terence was up first, but since he neglected to write a poem, Bomb’s poem was the first to be read.

“If my name were Bobby, would you ask about my hobbies? Or if my name were Judas, would you ask me what my mood is?” Bomb began, half-focused on reading the poem, and half-focused on gauging his classmates’ reactions. Red was very clearly less than pleased if his constant sighing was anything to go on, but Devon thought Bomb’s use of rhymes was very impressive. “I laugh, I cry, I love, I hate, I do so much more than detonate. Think about it,” Bomb collapsed into his seat, beak quivering.

“That was beautiful,” Matilda gushed. “Oh, you’re gonna make me cry!”

“She’s right, Bomb. That was inspiring,” Devon agreed, giving Bomb a warm smile. Bomb grinned at her praise.

“Yeah, that was some real clever symbolism,” Red dryly added, his face buried in his wings. Devon and Chuck subtly shot Red dirty looks, but Bomb grinned wider, failing to pick up on his sarcasm.

Matilda frowned. “Red, why don’t we hear your poem?”

“I don’t have a poem.”

“Uh-huh…why not?” Matilda asked. Devon exhaled sharply. _Here we go again._

“Because I didn’t write one.”  
“Right. Uh-huh,” Matilda was just barely holding back her frustration, and Devon commended her for it, because she would have smacked the soul out of Red had she been in her teacher’s position. “And is there a reason?”

“Well, you know, I was gonna do it,” Red began, his tone already condescending. “But then I thought about it and I realized, ‘Oh this is a huge waste of my time!’ So, I didn’t do it.”

As Matilda took deep breaths to lessen her anger, Devon gave a frustrated sigh. “Waste of your time?” she scoffed, wings crossed. “It’s not like you have anything better to do other than be an asshole and put everyone else down.”

Chuck covered his mouth in shock at Devon’s use of a swear word, and Red was about to retort, but Matilda had already moved on. “Chuck!” she called. “You’ve had your hand up for most of the class.”

In the blink of an eye, Chuck zipped out of the classroom and returned with Billy in his arms, obscured from view by a blanket. “My poem is about a hate crime,” Chuck announced, an intense look in his eyes as he pulled the blanket off the remains of his sign.

Various members of the class voiced their surprise at the demise of Chuck’s beloved Billy. “Lot of sickos out there. Lot of sickos,” Devon shot Red a look for his comment, though his gaze was trained on the sign he had destroyed.

“What, oh, what did I make you of? I made you out of love,” Chuck lifted Billy higher into his arms and rested his head affectionately against the remains of his creation. “But wait, too late! Now, I see your fate. Some very troubled somebody destroyed you out of hate.”

Devon watched Red shift uncomfortably in his seat. The two made eye contact for a split second before he tore his eyes away in guilt.

Chuck continued. “What could have made him so despise your happy smile, your laughing eyes? Your soul was pure, your heart was true, and someone hated that,” Chuck revealed the red feather from the crime scene, his voice suddenly deepening. “But who?”

Devon’s angry glare was soon accompanied by the disgust and disdain of the rest of the class. Red whistled casually, pointing at Terence. “Terence,” he coughed, before being punched into the wall by the enormous bird.

The class, purposely excluding Red, joined wings to mourn Billy together. “You know, if there’s one thing Billy always hated, it was goodbyes,” Chuck lamented, gazing mournfully down at Billy’s remains. As soon as Bomb pointed out something happening outside, however, Chuck gasped and dropped Billy, the rest of the class mindlessly trampling the once-treasured sign as they departed.

“Hurry! Something’s coming!” someone shouted as Devon joined the others outside.

“Last one to the beach is a rotten egg!” Chuck zipped off, the rest of the class following not-so-closely behind as the canary left them all in the dust.

Dodging all the birds running to the beach, Devon ran to join Chuck (and Terence, who had somehow beaten all of them there) at the shore. A large boat with glowing green lights drew nearer and nearer to the island. Red abruptly broke off from the group and ran towards a building at the far end of the beach. “My house! My house!”

Devon winced. She couldn’t help but feel bad for Red, who was still currently running towards his house, as if that would save it from the impending boat. Sure, he was a douchebag, but that didn’t mean he deserved to have his house mowed down.

Red stopped just as the ship looked like it was going to destroy his house, but instead, it merely tapped it. A moment later, a rock came crashing down upon the building, caving in the top floor. “Oh, shit!” Devon cringed, watching Red reel in horror over the destruction of his house.

“Language! And it wasn’t totally undeserved,” Chuck responded, speeding over to join Red.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” a voice boomed over a speaker. “We have a very special guest for you!” A series of doors and hatches opened on the boat, drawing murmurs from the crowd of birds on the beach. “He’s a green, marine, sailing machine, and he’s keen to let you know he’s not mean! Put your wings together for Leonard!”

The crowd gasped and recoiled as a ramp lowered onto the sand. “Thank you so much. Please hold your applause,” a portly, green figure emerged from the boat. “Greetings from my world! The world of the pigs!”

Chuck leaned towards Red. “What’s a pig?” he whispered.

As if to answer Chuck’s question, the green creature, presumably Leonard, continued, the ramp lowering him to the beach. “I am a pig.” As soon as he neared the ground, the gears of the ramp clanked and the conveyor belt stopped moving. “Unbelievable. Unbelievable,” Leonard lamented, arms crossed behind his back.

Devon and Bomb snickered amongst themselves as they watched the mysterious green pigs struggle with the conveyor belt. The larger green pig approached the two of them. “My name is Leonard,” he began, pushing a large, purple gift basket filled to the brim with food and goodies into Bomb’s arms. “But my friends call me Chuckles!”

Bomb’s eyes widened at the sight of the delectable snacks in the basket. “Very generous!” he beamed. “Thank—” he reached out for a lollipop in the gift basket, only for it to be snatched away by Leonard.

Devon snatched a few grapes from the gift basket and gobbled them up in a flash, barely listening as Leonard explained their origins from Piggy Island across the sea, and as Red complained to Leonard about how his ship smashed his home to bits.

“Welcome to Bird Island!” Judge Peckinpah boomed. “Welcome to our new friends, the pigs. Let us have a celebration!”

Later at the celebration, Bomb, Chuck, Devon, and Red (who they had successfully convinced to join them) watched the performance, enjoying a variety of juicy fruits on the platters in front of them. Or, rather, Bomb, Chuck, and Devon were enjoying themselves. Red was not.

“They don’t have feathers? You know, they’re just walking around naked, just presenting themselves. I’m looking at all their business here,” Red complained.

“That part about them I really admire,” Chuck gushed, gazing at the pigs.

“I’ll admit, it is a little strange,” Devon replied. “But they’ve been nice so far, so I think I can look past their nudity.”

“Now we would like to welcome our special guests, the pigs!” Stella announced, gesturing towards Leonard and his first officer Ross as the audience applauded heartily.

“Thank you for your kindness and hospitality,” Leonard began, raising his cup of coconut milk. “Our king sends his warmest regards. You have shared with us the wonders of your quaint, simple little island,” he turned around. “Drop the banner, Ross!”

A large banner of Leonard’s face fell covered the stage background. “Now, we would love to humbly share some of the wonders of our world.”

“Yeah, humble my bird butt,” Red remarked, sipping his drink.

“Language.”

“A hundred years from now, everyone will ask, ‘How did the friendship between the pigs and the birds start?’”

“Who cares?!” Red called out, earning several groans from the crowd and his companions.

Leonard looked less than amused, but continued. “Well, let them say we lit up the night!” A thick plume of flames shot up into the air as the stage exploded in a fiery burst of red and orange.

“Hey look, they destroyed more of the stuff we—” Red stopped, noticing not the awestruck looks on Chuck and Bomb’s faces, but the thousand-yard stare on Devon’s. Not a look of annoyance or anger, but one of abject horror. “Devon?” the concern in Red’s voice prompted Chuck and Bomb to look over at the rainbow bird.

Devon startled back into reality at the sound of her name. “Oh! I…” she swallowed hard as her heart pounded, willing the horrible memory of humiliation, then rage, then fire, screaming, and smoke from her mind. “I’m sorry everyone, I have to go.”

“What? But the party’s only just getting started!” Chuck exclaimed.

“I know, Chuck,” Devon got up from the table and backed away, heart hammering in her chest. “You’re just going to have to party extra hard on my behalf, then.”

“Dev, wait!” Bomb called, but Devon was already gone.

Devon took off running as soon as she was away from the party area. She ran to the outskirts of the village, tossing her bag up one of the taller trees and climbing up to the sturdiest branch. Pulling her water bottle from her bag, she uncapped and drank several sips of it before simply dumping the rest of its contents on herself.

Meanwhile, Red found himself facing the pigs’ ship after a particularly mean-spirited slingshot launch by Leonard. Chuck zoomed over to him. “You know you want to search their boat,” the canary goaded.

“What? No, I don’t,” Red denied, his gaze never leaving the imposing structure. “Yeah, you’re right, I do,” he admitted.

Chuck zipped back to the party, then returned with a plate of cake. “Bomb’s on his way,” he informed his cardinal companion, shoveling forkfuls of the pastry into his beak.

Red looked conflicted for a moment before exhaling reluctantly. “What about Devon?”

Chuck shrugged. “I don’t actually know where she is.”

Red rubbed his arm sheepishly, preparing to swallow his pride. “Look, I don’t know what we’re going to find on this ship, but I do know I’d feel a lot safer with some extra muscle helping us, and Devon is _all_ muscle,” Red looked jealously at Chuck’s cake before regaining focus. “So please, go find her.”

Chuck was off in a flash, eyes zipping from place to place as he called Devon from various areas in the village. “You’re lucky everyone’s awake and at that party,” Devon called down to Chuck, who came skidding to a halt at the sound of her voice. “Up here.”

The canary looked up to see Devon climbing down the tree. “I thought you’d gone home.”

Devon looked up and the tree and back at Chuck. “This, um, is my home,” she confessed. “Back when I worked for the circus, I caravanned with them. I never thought I’d need an actual house, so I never got one. Guess I was wrong,” she ruefully smiled.

“Well! After we’re finished up with this super-secret mission, you’re coming to stay with me,” Chuck grinned, running in place excitedly. “No friend of mine is going to sleep outside, alone, and in the cold.”

Devon felt like a weight was lifted off her. “Normally, I’d say no because I don’t want to impose or anything, but I’m not going to lie, I’m pretty desperate,” she shrugged, a small smile on her face. “I really appreciate it, Chuck.”

“Of course! It’ll be just like a sleepover! We can watch scary movies, play cards, give each other mani-pedis, read comic books—”

“Wait, back up. You said something about a secret mission?”

“Oh yeah!” Chuck laughed. “Red, Bomb, and I are going to sneak onto the pigs’ boat.”

“What? Why?”

“Don’t know. Red thinks something’s up. He asked for you specifically.”

Devon gave Chuck a puzzled look. “Okay, why me?”

“He said he’d feel safer with you protecting us because you were a circus strongwoman,” Chuck answered. “To be honest, I’d feel safer, too. Speed doesn’t always help in a pinch.”

Devon smirked, stroking her chin thoughtfully. “So, he finally quelled that ego of his just to ask for my help?”

“I know! I was just as surprised!”

Devon’s smirk blossomed into a grin. “Alright, let’s go search that boat!”


End file.
